Genshin Impact is quickly becoming one of the most beloved open-world RPGs of all time, and will possibly soon rival Skyrim, The Witcher 3 and Breath of the Wild as being one of the greatest and most iconic open-world RPGs ever. Because the game is still in development, certain features in Genshin are still not as refined when compared to its aforementioned competitors.
One area Genshin is lacking when compared to its competitors in is its random or rare encounters. Having to rescue Pallad (or not, he probably doesn't deserve any Traveler's sympathy at this point) for the hundredth time is obviously nowhere near as dynamic or exciting as Skyrim's famous Headless Horsemen or dragon attacks. Nevertheless, Genshin still has quite a few rare encounters to look out for, and new ones are sure to pop up as new regions and nations are released.
10 Encountering A...Spider?
Weirdly enough, one of Genshin's rarest encounters involves what would otherwise be an extremely ordinary and common occurrence in any other video game: encountering a spider. Spiders only appear in certain story Domains or in ruins like the Luhau Pool treasure room, where they guard valuable Cor Lapis.
While they can indeed harm you (albeit for very minor damage), they aren't really considered an enemy and are more of an environmental hazard like lightning or burning damage from standing too close to fire (Dragonspine flashbacks ensue...)
9 Finding A Weasel Thief
Weasel Thieves are a special type of wildlife critter that (for whatever reason) have a big bag of Mora strapped on their backs. When Travelers get close to the Weasel Thief, it will burrow into the ground. By interacting with it, it will jump out and attempt to run away from the Traveler, dropping Mora along the way. If Travelers attack the Weasel, it will faint and drop a modest sum of Mora.
8 Encountering An Eye Of The Storm
Travelers will likely come across the Eye of the Storm early on when playing the prologue. At this point in the game, the Eye of the Storm acts as a pseudo-boss because it floats (forcing the use of a bow user) and has more HP than most of the enemies encountered thus far. However, once Travelers become familiar with its moveset, the Eye of the Storm becomes a fairly straightforward encounter.
Once Travelers progress into mid and late game, they will rarely encounter the Eye of the Storm beyond random commissions or bounties. While they spawn in a few places in the overworld, they are off the beaten path. Finally, to add salt to the wound, they don't drop Ascension materials, so there is very little incentive to hunt them down, making them a rare encounter.
7 Battling A Ruin Grader
The Ruin Grader is a much larger and more menacing version of the Ruin Guard that Travelers are likely well-acquainted with. They appear exclusively in Dragonspine or temporarily in certain challenges like the Spiral Abyss or limited-time events.
The Ruin Grader boasts a much larger range thanks to its size, and consequently, its AoE cyclone attack can be hard to avoid. It also has several upgrades that distinguish it from its lesser brethren, including a laser and a charge attack.
6 Enraging The Great Snowboar King
After completing Dragonspine's main sidequest, Travelers who return back to the mountain campsite can accept another sidequest in which they need to collect frozen meat. This will likely lead them to a particular spot where they will find a bunch of frozen boar for the taking.
Unfortunately, thawing all of these boars and killing them will trigger the wrath of the Great Snowboar King, a giant boar that doesn't appear in the Adventurer's Handbook and thus can be considered a secret boss. It has several unique attacks, including the ability to summon other boars to aid it.
Killing it will reward the Traveler with the frozen meat they need, but outside of that, there is rarely a reason to farm this boss as the drops aren't that worthwhile, leading to this boss often being forgotten by most Travelers.
5 Fighting The Abyss Herald And Abyss Lector
As of 1.5, the Abyss Herald and Lector are the rarest enemy encounters in the game. The Abyss Herald features prominently in the latest Archon quest, along with being fought in the Spiral Abyss. The Abyss Lector, on the other hand, can only be fought in the Spiral Abyss on the final floor.
They are two of the toughest enemies in Genshin to date, with the Herald using a Hydro fighting style and the Lector being more similar to an Electro-wielding mage that can debuff players by draining their Energy.
4 Uncovering The Chi Of Guyun's Treasure
As far as quests are concerned, this one is both well-hidden and long-winded. Talking to an NPC in the ruins of Bishui Plain will begin a quest that ends with the Traveler finding a hidden cavern by a waterfall. Once inside, Travelers are faced with one of the most challenging encounters as they need to face four Ruin Guards and one Ruin Hunter all while protecting a mechanism from being destroyed.
Once completed, the Traveler can claim the treasure within. While the rewards are pretty typical by quest completion standards, the quest provides interesting lore and the cavern itself is pretty breathtaking and a sight not many Travelers have seen.
3 Meeting The Unusual Hilichurl
Achievement hunters are very familiar with this Unusual Hilichurl, but for everyone else, it's a rare encounter and will likely come as a surprise at first. The Unusual Hilichurl is completely passive and won't attack unless provoked. It can only be found in one particular location each day, and once defeated, another one can spawn in.
It's obviously one of the weirdest things in a game that doesn't do much immersion breaking, but when you take into consideration that it's an easter egg related to miHoYo's founder, it's actually pretty funny.
2 Pulling A Desired 5-Star From The Standard Banner
Despite being permanent, pulling from Genshin's standard banner, Wanderlust Invocation, is a mixed bag. Unlike event banners, the standard banner has no rate-up on any character or weapon, making it an inefficient use of Primogems. All items have an equal chance of being dropped, and once new 4-star characters are released, they are added into the pool one patch after their debut, making it even less likely to get a certain item.
While no new 5-stars characters have been added to the banner since the game's release, getting a desired 5-star from it will take a lot of luck (or Primogems). Even if a 5-star is pulled, an additional layer of RNG is taken into consideration on which of the current 15 items you will get.
1 Getting The Perfect 5-Star Artifact
There is nothing more painful to endgame players than farming a domain for Artifacts, only to get a defense Goblet or a crit damage Circlet with flat defense, HP and elemental mastery.
While HP and defense main stats can work in niche character builds like Zhongli or Noelle, most of Genshin's endgame content revolves around high DPS. This is why attack%, crit rate/damage and elemental damage bonuses are so desirable in both the Artifact's main stats and substats.
However, getting an Artifact with both the desired main stat and all of the substats is an ordeal in itself and either requires countless grinding and Resin refills or a lot of luck. Factor in an additional layer of RNG into which upgrades are rolled into the substats, and it might be best to just come to terms with the fact that it is near impossible to get the perfect Artifact, and settle with one that has the ideal main stat and at least 2 desirable substats.